A combination of pumps failing and heavy rains caused almost a million gallons of diluted raw sewage to spill into the Phinizy Ditch, a stream that flows into the Savannah River. The spill started Monday afternoon and continued until early Tuesday morning.
The head of Augusta’s Utilities Department, Tom Wiedmeier, assures WJBF News Channel 6 that the "significant spill" poses no immediate heath risk, but that didn’t stop some people from being concerned.
Wayne Lynch and his friend were fishing at the Lock and Dam Tuesday afternoon when we told them about a near million gallon sewage spill that ultimately leaked into the river. Even though the city Utilities Department says fishing is okay, Lynch wasn't taking the risk.
Wayne Lynch says, "I just threw out my poles and now that you told me that I’m going to pack it in and leave. That's something to be concerned about."
According to the company that runs Augusta’s water treatment plant, three things lead up to the sewage leak. First, they say, the heavy rains had the plant treating around 60 million gallons of sewage, nearly twice the amount the plant treats on a normal daily basis.
Plant managers also say they believe lighting struck one of the pumps that pushes the sewage around the plant.
Those issues, plus with another pump failure, are what officials say caused the spill.
Paul Tickerhoof manages the water treatment plant, he says, ”Any of those occurrences one at a time we don't have this situation."
Tickerhoof says you have to take into account that only about point one percent of what flows into the facility is actually raw sewage. He says knowing that and taking into account the heavy rains, most of what escaped was just dirty water, however they're taking the spill very seriously.
Tickerhoof says, "I mean it's not good situation, it's not something that happens very often and the key is when something like that happens it's all hands on deck to get it resolved."
As for Lynch, he says he won't feel safe fishing in the river for a while.
Lynch says, "even if they say it's safe how would you know? Just by them telling us, how would we know?"
Plant workers spent almost 27 straight hours working to stop the leak and replace the broken pump.
Workers at the treatment plant are testing water from the Savannah River to make sure it’s ok. Those tests will continue for the next year.
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